Nucleus Office Talks: Boosting profits by investing in experiences

A positive experience is always worth the effort. Leading businesses across the world are willingly taking their marketing strategy to a whole new level by making experiences their priority. This new model is giving brands a more holistic strategy in reigniting growth and development.

The power of a satisfying customer experience has been recognised across the industry. It is followed by the employee experience which demonstrates the impact a well looked after employee can have on a brand’s growth. This has made companies explore more on Return on Experience (RoX), a metric that captures a company’s return on its investment by combining customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX).

At Nucleus Office Talks by Mastermind 2023 – Decoding the Value of Experience, we have with us Mr A. Balasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO at Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund to share the importance of this people-centric approach.

Technology has played a big role in enhancing customer experience. The fast digitization of the mutual funds industry has helped in making the process simpler and empowered the customers to make informed decisions.

The Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund took the step towards customer-friendly digitization way back in 2015-16. “We decided to have a two-day digital conference on it and learned from some of the banks, service providers, and social media platforms like Google and Facebook. With that we decided we need to have a model which will make the whole process completely customer friendly,” Balasubramanian says.

“We had our first app called Active Account App because we felt that customers would struggle with the transactions. At the same time there are a lot of people having free money lying in their savings account. So how do we bring that money in the mutual account space? So for that we felt we must have an app. And after that we went for a customer app, and then a partner app. That is how we kept building on our digital assets. In fact, today 19 percent of our transactions come through digital platforms.”

Ensuring a quality customer experience is interlinked with a good employee experience. For employees to give their best, a well-designed office space besides a rewarding and productive work culture is a must. Listing the pointers for an ideal work-place, Balasubramanian says: “Firstly, an office should be suitably placed for employees for commuting. Secondly, people should feel like coming to the office — there should be decorum, vibrancy and proper ventilation is a must in an office.

“There should also be happiness and work-life balance — all this is provided in the office set up that we have. Ultimately, the office environment has to be such that the vibes are extremely positive.”

Balasubramanian also provides insights into the transformative changes which Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund made in keeping their customers happy and satisfied. “As a customer starts to deal with you, he will approach you for different reasons. First and foremost it's about the returns. Secondly, you need to focus on the post sales servicing which I believe is equally a big component in delivering the happiness quotient. And then comes the hand holding stage — when things go wrong how quickly you respond becomes crucial,” he says. “Caring for the employees is the primary moto of the Aditya Birla Group, besides developing talent and giving growth to people at continuous intervals.”

Balasubramanian is a strong advocate of Return on Experience (ROX) and rates it higher than Return on Investment (ROI). “As you gain experience, it is reflected or measured by how you grow in the system, how you contribute to the industry's growth, how you participate in the discussion-making process, and how you are able to take the employees together and take them to a different level. And finally how you are able to uphold the values of the brand in the eyes of the public. All these things come based on experience. These can’t be measured on the basis of money or how much increment you got. Return on Experience, I would say, is far far higher than the Return on Investment,” he says.

The value of experiences has gradually moved into the consciousness of business houses. Many are doing away with their old models and working on aligning customer experience with employee experience. Merging the two will not only lay the groundwork for valuable relationship, but it will also facilitate better business decision-making and accelerated growth.

Nucleus Office Parks strives to create ‘spaces that speak’ through innovation in design and technology to enhance employee workplace experience vis-a-vis customer experience — which form the building blocks of Return on Experience. Click here (hyperlink microsite url) to watch the complete ‘walk and talk’ series by Nucleus Office Parks.

Disclaimer: This article has been produced on behalf of Nucleus Office Parks by HT Brand Studio.